The former Co-operative building in
Maybole’s Whitehall is having some emergency repairs done on. For
some time now, the local community council has been trying to find
out who the owners are and trying to have the property made safe.
This has meant contacting South Ayrshire Council and Companies House
and now the local authority has instructed contactors to carry out
the work. Scaffolding has been erected along the frontage, because
of concern about the condition of the roof. The contractor was also
to check the condition of the boarding over the windows. This work
was carried out to remove the immediate danger to the public.
more

The first of South Ayrshire Council’s
Community Conversation events was held in Carrick Academy, Maybole
last Wednesday, November 4. Hugh Hunter, council leader, welcomed a
few members of the public and said that in the current economic
climate public sector organisations across the UK are facing
unprecedented financial challenges. He continued, “
These conversations are to increase awareness and understanding of
the big issues that South Ayrshire Council is facing and to invite
suggestions and ideas from communities. David Anderson, Chief
Executive, outlined improvements the council has made since a Best
Value Audit had been carried out and what still needed to be looked
at. more

Gordon Cockburn, of Maybole, is
opening an exhibition in honour of his friend Ernest Levy who died a
few months ago. Ernest survived not just one Nazi concentration camp
but seven and became one of Scotland’s most respected religious
leaders. He was born in 1925 in Bratislava and in 1938 he and his
family, along with hundreds of other Jewish families, were sent to a
camp more

A different type of train arrived in
Maybole last week for an exceptional event. It was Soul Train, and
it brought the Israel experience to the ancient capital of Carrick
at a special showing of paintings in the Cockburn Gallery on the
High Street. The gallery is currently showing a selection, from over
500 of Gordon Cockburn's moving paintings inspired by his visit to
Auschwitz, in memory of the Rev Ernest Levy, and the event was
attended by Ernest's daughter, Judith, as well as South Ayrshire’s
Provost Winifred Sloan, Walter Sneader, chair of the Scottish
Council of Jewish Communities’, and other local dignitaries.
more

When Carrick Chess Club and Carrick
Junior Chess Club said they were looking for new and old members to
join them they did not think that one of their own members, Dr Kenny
Brooksbank, would turn up at the AGM with his 12 week old twins! The
annual general meeting was combined with the annual prizegiving
ceremony when the Club Championship was won jointly by Dr Kenny
Brooksbank and Ali Roy. more

Callum McKelvie, of the Maybole Arms,
sponsored the match ball for the Scottish Junior Cup game between
Maybole Juniors and Dufftown on Saturday. At half-time , some of
Carrick Colts under 10 team took part in a penalty shoot out and all
were given souvenir medals.

Maybole has a Scottish Champion Stuart
McCulloch, 14 year old Carrick Academy pupil, plays pool for the
Corner Pocket in Maybole and last weekend October 31/November 1) he
became a Scottish champion at the Corner Pocket in Falkirk! The
modest teenager won the Scottish Junior Singles Championship, under
16s, and was runner up in the Scottish Youth Singles Championship
for under 18s. Stuart is now looking forward to his next tournament
at Craig Tara later this month after being selected for the Ayr &
District 15 man adult team. In recent months, Stuart has had
difficulty in being allowed to practise and play in the Ayr &
District Premier Taxis Pool League due to the new licensing laws.
During this time, Stuart would like to thank Paul Zive of the Corner
Pocket, Callum McKelvie of the Maybole Arms, Carrick Sports Club,
Portland Janitorial and Martin Fisher for all their support.

Golf winners. Second photo shows club
captain Gary McCulloch making a presentation to Sam Coulter to mark
his 60 plus years of service to the club. List of winners

Spotty Zebras is a new group starting
in South Ayrshire for families who have a child with significant
special needs – for example they may need one to one support to
access ordinary activities. Carrie McKnight, who lives in
Maybole, has an 8 year old son, Keir, with Down’s syndrome and quite
severe learning disability and Sasha Ratcliffe from Ayr has a 3 year
old son, Jack, with general developmental delay.
more

Carrick
Academy kitchen staff walk Millport for Breast Cancer charity.
Pictured from left to right : Jean Swan, Tracey Capstick, Jo
McGregor, Jean Barclay, Marion Wright, Andrea Corin, Joanne Anderson
and Janie Hamilton. The photo was taken by the ninth member of the
team, Lorna Lennox. Members of the kitchen staff at Carrick Academy
recently completed a 10 mile sponsored walk around Millport, former
home town of kitchen manager Janie Hamilton. The group managed to
raise just over £1,000 for the charity. The intrepid team left
Maybole early on a Sunday morning in October, Beast Cancer Awareness
month, and travelled to Largs where they caught the Millport ferry.
more

Pupils in Cairn Primary P4/5 class
have been working very hard this term learning about how to use
specialist circus equipment such as poi, magic sticks, diabolo,
juggling and spinning plates. All of the equipment demands
concentration and refining motor skills. The class thoroughly
enjoyed using the equipment and learning new skills and were keen to
show their new found expertise to the rest of the school at
Assembly. The class planned and performed their circus routine
dressed as clowns and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Gardenrose Primary’s Parent Council
Jumble Sale made a net profit of just under £700. Alexis Cran,
ChairPerson, said, “We are delighted with that considering the wet
morning and cash machines not working in the town. All the parent
council, friends and families worked hard to make it a good morning.
Also local Councillor Mairi Lowe was involved helping at the
tea/coffee stall. Mrs Scott, head teacher, some teachers and pupils
assisted the parent council and their families and friends with the
stalls. A group of P7s who are involved in an enterprise group
painted nails and put on tattoos. Local companies who donated prizes
for the raffle, to sell or for tea/coffee were Rosebank Fruiterers,
TKS Karate, Ranch Caravan Site, Cockburn Gallery, Station Stores,
June Dunlop, Birtwhistle Opticians, Interpak, Crawford Henderson,
Royal Bank staff and various Parent Council members and teachers.
more

Cairn Primary raised over
£700 at their Christmas Fayre an they would like to say a
very big thank you to all companies who donated raffle
prizes. They are KIER MINING, GRANTS DISTILLERY, NURSERIES
DIRECT, CRAFT DAFT, ODEON CINEMA, MALIN COURT. A thank you
to Mrs Annette Bryden for donating the doll, and Ayr Utd
for donating a signed football. Thank you to all parent
helpers, also the fundraising committee for all their help
and support arranging the Christmas Fayre. Also a very big
thank you to all staff at the school for their help and
support leading up to the fayre and on the day, also to
Stacey for face painting. All the children and adults had a
great time on the day, it was fantastic fun!!

The complete text of the headlines above and more articles follow below.

Carrick Academy
kitchen staff walk Millport for Breast Cancer
charity. Pictured from left to right : Jean Swan,
Tracey Capstick, Jo McGregor, Jean Barclay, Marion
Wright, Andrea Corin, Joanne Anderson and Janie
Hamilton. The photo was taken by the ninth member of
the team, Lorna Lennox. Members of the kitchen staff
at Carrick Academy recently completed a 10 mile
sponsored walk around Millport, former home town of
kitchen manager Janie Hamilton. The group managed to
raise just over £1,000 for the charity. The intrepid
team left Maybole early on a Sunday morning in
October, Beast Cancer Awareness month, and travelled
to Largs where they caught the Millport ferry. The
weather forecast wasn't good but the rain stayed
away and the walkers safely managed to complete
their journey. Although they were a bit sore, they
remained dry; at least on the outside. After a light
refreshment and a recharge of the batteries, the
walkers headed back and were in Maybole in time for
tea.

When
Carrick Chess Club and Carrick Junior Chess Club said
they were looking for new and old members to join them
they did not think that one of their own members, Dr
Kenny Brooksbank, would turn up at the AGM with his 12
week old twins! The annual general meeting was combined
with the annual prizegiving ceremony when the Club
Championship was won jointly by Dr Kenny Brooksbank and
Ali Roy.

Winners of the Ayrshire
Chess League were Greenwood Gambits with runners up
being Prestwick A Team. Irvine B team were relegated to
Division 2 while Carrick remain in Division1. Anyone
interested in joining Carrick Chess Club or Carrick
Junior Chess Club is invited to go along on a Wednesday
evening to Maybole Town Hall between 7pm and 10pm.
Junior Beginners are welcome to go along between 7pm and
8pm.

Gardenrose Primary’s Parent Council Jumble
Sale made a net profit of just under £700.
Alexis Cran, ChairPerson, said, “We are
delighted with that considering the wet morning
and cash machines not working in the town. All
the parent council, friends and families worked
hard to make it a good morning. Also local
Councillor Mairi Lowe was involved helping at
the tea/coffee stall. Mrs Scott, head teacher,
some teachers and pupils assisted the parent
council and their families and friends with the
stalls. A group of P7s who are involved in an
enterprise group painted nails and put on
tattoos. Local companies who donated prizes for
the raffle, to sell or for tea/coffee were
Rosebank Fruiterers, TKS Karate, Ranch Caravan
Site, Cockburn Gallery, Station Stores, June
Dunlop, Birtwhistle Opticians, Interpak,
Crawford Henderson, Royal Bank staff and various
Parent Council members and teachers. All
families, friends and teachers donated a vast
amount of items such as clothes, DVDs, toys,
books, bric-a-brac, baby items. A donated
unusual hog trike made £50 at the silent
auction. Most of the left over items were given
to Mr Patterson from the Maybole Age Concern so
another charity will benefit. All monies will go
direct to repairing IT equipment and purchasing
badly needed new ones. We would like to thank
everyone who supported us.

Gordon Cockburn, of Maybole, is opening an
exhibition in honour of his friend Ernest Levy who
died a few months ago. Ernest survived not just one
Nazi concentration camp but seven and became one of
Scotland’s most respected religious leaders. He was
born in 1925 in Bratislava and in 1938 he and his
family, along with hundreds of other Jewish
families, were sent to a camp on the Hungarian
border before being allowed to cross the border to
settle in Hungary. Germany invaded Hungary in March
1944, and the 19-year-old engineering student was
deported to Auschwitz along with thousands of
others. Ernest became a slave worker in seven Nazi
camps, the last of which was Belsen in January 1945.
Belsen was liberated by British troops in April
1945. His father, and also a brother and a sister,
had died in the camps. In 1961 he decided to move to
Glasgow, and in 1965 married another survivor of
Belsen, Kathy Herman. The exhibition in the Cockburn
Gallery is on Tuesday November 17 at 8.30pm and
there will be special guests and international
entertainment.

A
different type of train arrived in Maybole last week
for an exceptional event. It was Soul Train, and it
brought the Israel experience to the ancient capital
of Carrick at a special showing of paintings in the
Cockburn Gallery on the High Street.

The gallery is
currently showing a selection, from over 500 of
Gordon Cockburn's moving paintings inspired by his
visit to Auschwitz, in memory of the Rev Ernest
Levy, and the event was attended by Ernest's
daughter, Judith, as well as South Ayrshire’s
Provost Winifred Sloan, Walter Sneader, chair of the
Scottish Council of Jewish Communities’, and other
local dignitaries.

Gordon Cockburn and
the gallery manager Kate Rolwich, spoke movingly of
their friendship with Ernest, and the entertainment
included Jewish and Israeli music performed by David
Weinreb and Danny Dor-El of Soul Train, as well as
Scottish songs from Jim Stevens and his daughter
Mhairi.

Also amongst those
present were Jewish people from Ayrshire and the
Borders who had learned about the event as a result
of a Scottish Council of Jewish Communities’
government-funded outreach project. So far this
project has connected more than 50 isolated Jewish
people in rural areas from the Borders to the
Northern Isles with the community.

Soul Train is a group
that connects with members of small Jewish
communities round the world – and anyone else who
appreciates music and culture with a Jewish heart!

Accompanied by
guitars, a flute, a clarinet and a Jambe (an African
drum), the musicians sing Jewish soul music,
Chassidic rock, Israeli songs, and Hebrew prayers.
The group have a proven track record in other parts
of the world, but have never before performed in
Western Europe – so this was another first for
Maybole.

They were beginning
their Kosher Ceilidh tour of Scotland before moving
on to Lochgilphead, the Isle of Skye, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen and Glasgow.

The Scottish Council
of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) is the representative
body of all the Jewish communities in Scotland.
SCoJeC advances public understanding about the
Jewish religion, culture and community, and develops
and provides information and assistance to
educational, health and welfare organisations. It
also works in partnership with other organisations
and stakeholders to promote good relations and
understanding among community groups and to promote
equality. In furtherance of that end, it represents
the Jewish community in Scotland to government and
other statutory and official bodies, monitors the
Scottish Parliament and liaises with MSPs and others
on matters affecting the Jewish community. Contact
SCoJeC for more details: scojec@scojec.org / 0141
638 6411 / 07887 488 100

Spotty Zebras is a new group starting in South
Ayrshire for families who have a child with
significant special needs – for example they may
need one to one support to access ordinary
activities. Carrie McKnight, who lives in
Maybole, has an 8 year old son, Keir, with Down’s
syndrome and quite severe learning disability and
Sasha Ratcliffe from Ayr has a 3 year old son, Jack,
with general developmental delay.

Carrie told us, “Our
group is for all the family so that parents and
carers can meet each other and share stories,
information and support while their disabled
children and their siblings play. It is a bit like a
parent and toddler group but for children of all
ages! We are running the group ourselves and
parents/carers wlll be responsible for their
children at all times.”

She continued, “We
wanted to start the group because it can be
isolating having a child with special needs in the
family. “We want to create a space where it is
normal to have a child who is different. We chose
the name Spotty Zebras because it is fun and
memorable and it symbolises that while our disabled
children are different in some significant ways,
they are mainly just the same as anyone else!

“We are planning to
meet on a regular basis – at least once a month and
our first meeting is on Sunday 15th November from
2-4pm at the old Digital building on Mosshill
Industrial Estate just outside Ayr. There will be
fun activities for children of all abilities.”
Anybody who is interested in going along or finding
out more can contact Carrie on 07950773899 or Sasha
on 07775638026 or e-mail Carrie at carriemcknight@btinternet.com.
They would love to hear from you!

The former Co-operative
building in Maybole’s Whitehall is having some
emergency repairs done on. For some time now, the
local community council has been trying to find out
who the owners are and trying to have the property
made safe. This has meant contacting South Ayrshire
Council and Companies House and now the local
authority has instructed contactors to carry out the
work. Scaffolding has been erected along the
frontage, because of concern about the condition of
the roof. The contractor was also to check the
condition of the boarding over the windows. This
work was carried out to remove the immediate danger
to the public. The delay in the remedial work
commencing was that Amey initially did not approve
the scaffolding quickly enough, and also said it
could only be erected at the weekend. Building
Standards are considering serving a Dangerous
Building Notice on the property. This would require
the owner to carry out work, such as the removal of
the roof and permanently securing the windows,
relating to the long term stability of the
structure.

The first of
South Ayrshire Council’s Community Conversation
events was held in Carrick Academy, Maybole last
Wednesday, November 4. Hugh Hunter, council leader,
welcomed a few members of the public and said that
in the current economic climate public sector
organisations across the UK are facing unprecedented
financial challenges.

He continued, “ These
conversations are to increase awareness and
understanding of the big issues that South Ayrshire
Council is facing and to invite suggestions and
ideas from communities. David Anderson, Chief
Executive, outlined improvements the council has
made since a Best Value Audit had been carried out
and what still needed to be looked at.

Bill McIntosh, Portfolio Holder,
resource and Performance, spoke about the economic
outlook and its impact on local government. He said,
“There will be a sharp reduction in the finance
available with South Ayrshire Council looking at a
potential £35 million funding gap over the next four
years.

David Anderson then spoke on the
approach to the council’s budget over those four
years but said there was a high level of uncertainty
about the way forward. He spoke about higher costs
and increased demand for sevices, adding,
“Efficiency actions will not be sufficient to get us
through the budget changes.

We need to identify areas for
doing things differently, reductions in what we do
or withdrawing from some things we do. “The focus
will be on property, people and purchases.”

Former council leader Andy Hill,
a Maybole resident, was at the meeting and
criticised the venue blaming it for the lack of
people who had turned up. He also queried how the
meeting had been publicised saying that people
needed to get the opportunity to be heard. “These
decisions will be hard,” he added, “with far
reaching consequences.” In essence the reply was
that the venue had been raised by the community
council as not suitable but it was the first in a
new venture and had seemed right because of staff to
support it, parking and other factors.

David Anderson said, “It’s
important we learn and will take this on board.”
Bill McCubbin asked if the removal of ring fencing
for funds had been helpful or not and the Chief
Executive replied that it had been very helpful
letting the council address what it thinks is
important. Brian Robertson asked if services would
be affected if the council had to reduce costs. Bill
McIntosh replied that service reviews were being
carried out and they were looking at whether a
service should be done at all or could it be done
more efficiently and how could quality be improved.
Roger Martin was concerned about cut backs affecting
grants for organisations such as the Scout group he
helps run and Hugh Hunter replied that no decisions
had been made and everything was being looked at. He
pointed out that the council’s main grant system
could still be applied to. William Grant asked about
the possibility of sharing services with North and
east Ayrshire Councils and case for an all Ayrshire
authority. Hugh Hunter was “dead against” and all
Ayrshire authority saying he believed in local
delivery of service. David Anderson said the three
councils were working together to look at being more
cost effective particularly in buying. Andy Hill
turned to the shortfall of £35 million over the next
four years and said that this would mainly affect
people who worked for the council.

“How will it help the community
if people are made redundant, it will create more
problems.” He then spoke about future Maybole
projects and how they could be run. David Anderson
said that 53% of the budget is spent on people and
that can’t be ignored. “We have to produce a
balanced budget; become more efficient, more
effective and look at multitasking.” Hugh Hunter
said that more buildings could be let go and there
could be better use of buildings retained if jobs
are to be saved. He said the Pathfinder project in
Maybole was exciting and could be a future way of
managing community assets.